News

Partnership brings Eastern promise

28 November 2007 The University of Nottingham is one of the partners in a multi-million pound project to help pool research expertise in the UK and China and turn it into business.

Innovation China-UK (ICUK), which launched in London, involves Nottingham and four other universities from the UK working with 20 academic institutions in China. It is backed by £5m of funding from the UK's Higher Education Innovation Fund and similar backing from the Chinese government.

ICUK will build a knowledge network, offer grants to help develop ideas into business, and offer advice on project management and the transfer of technology from research into business.

Dr Susan Huxtable, the director of intellectual property management and commercialisation at the University of Nottingham, said ICUK would complement the university's existing links with China, where it has its own campus at Ningbo.

She said: "We are delighted that this project has come to fruition.

"ICUK will cement Nottingham's many existing research collaborations with top Chinese higher education institutions and will assist in the formation of new collaborations.

"The funding available through ICUK will increase the chances of commercial success for a number of projects."

China now has the biggest research and development (R &D) workforce, and the third biggest R &D investment in the world. The UK has recognised the importance of collaborating with China to benefit from globalisation and to win 'the race to top' of innovation.

ICUK will support research into areas such as energy, climate change and sustainable environment.

It will also look at infectious diseases, biomedicine and drug discovery, nanotechnology and materials science, and space technology.

Speaking at the launch of ICUK, Jin Xiao Ming, director general of international cooperation at China's Ministry of Science and Technology, said: "It is high time we tapped into the enormously rich resources of joint research projects between our research institutions and bring them into the orbit of practical application and wealth creation."

Ian Pearson, minister for science and innovation, added: "ICUK is a further sign of co-operation between the UK and China. Such existing research partnerships mark a potentially significant step in the capability of both countries to boost knowledge transfer."

Source:Nottingham Evening Post|

[back]|